{"id":8807,"date":"2022-09-27T16:40:20","date_gmt":"2022-09-27T16:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/?p=8807"},"modified":"2023-07-14T02:00:08","modified_gmt":"2023-07-14T02:00:08","slug":"misty-copelands-be-bold-program-offers-free-ballet-classes-to-black-and-latino-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/misty-copelands-be-bold-program-offers-free-ballet-classes-to-black-and-latino-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Misty Copeland\u2019s BE BOLD Program Offers Free Ballet Classes To Black And Latino Children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A free ballet class that Misty Copeland took when she was 13 years old led the ballerina to her abundant career, and in 2015 she became the first Black woman to be a principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre\u2013\u2013the highest position in a ballet company. Now, Copeland is paying it forward by launching her own free after-school ballet program for children between the ages of 8 to 10. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Called BE BOLD, the program began this month in New York City at two Boys and Girls Clubs, reports <\/strong>Smithsonian Magazine<\/strong><\/a>. Students will be trained in ballet, music, and health. Teachers are trained by the National Dance Institute, and Copeland strives to admit several hundred students this year, and thousands in years to come.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copeland\u2019s motivation behind the program is to change who has access to the world of ballet; historically, it\u2019s been predominantly white. \u201cI really want to hold onto the beautiful aspects of ballet\u2014the discipline, the creativeness\u2014and get rid of those old, stereotypical things that don\u2019t make for a good experience, especially for Black and Brown children,\u201d said Copeland in an interview with<\/strong> <\/strong>New York Times<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u2019<\/em><\/strong> Javier C. Hern\u00e1ndez.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so important for me to give back to the community, as well as to show people that ballet should be and can be inclusive,\u201d she said<\/strong>.<\/em><\/strong> \u201cIt\u2019s giving opportunities to people that don\u2019t feel that they are included in this elite art form, and offering a new approach to what ballet can look like.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program\u2019s website explains how BE BOLD is meeting a demand for the arts within underserved communities: \u201cIn creating BE BOLD, Copeland aims to build upon her own formative experience at the San Pedro Boys and Girls Club and to advance young children and meet their developmental needs. There is immense unmet need for quality after school programs in the United States, and the unmet demand disproportionately impacts communities of color. Further, current access to formal dance instruction, in general, and ballet, in particular, is a matter of chance for children in under-resourced communities.\u201d<\/strong>
Learn more about BE BOLD\u2019s mission and how you can get involved by visiting <\/strong>mistycopelandfoundation.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A free ballet class that Misty Copeland took when she was 13 years old led the ballerina to her abundant career, and in 2015 she became the first Black woman to be a principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre\u2013\u2013the highest position in a ballet company. Now, Copeland is paying it forward by launching her own […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[31,885],"class_list":["post-8807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","tag-featured","tag-misty-copeland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}